Replacing what was left behind

As I already mentioned, we didn't bring a whole lot of stuff with us when we moved. Other than clothes, books, personal items and some home decor, we really didn't bring much else. We left all our small kitchen appliances behind. There were especially 3 kitchen appliances that I LOVED and would have wanted to bring:

1. Green Apple Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer, that I bought myself only one year before the move
2. AllClad Waffle Maker that Chris had gotten me for my birthday a few years ago
3. GE blender with a glass jar, that provided us an endless supply of smoothies

Almost 6 months after the move, we still had not bought a single kitchen appliance. Our rental house came with a microwave, we've used our manual whisk when whipping cream, or mixing cake batter and our hands to knead pizza dough and we've even done without a toaster. Finally today, after some research, we went out and bought an Åviken 905 double waffle maker and a Wilfa BL1200 blender and so we had waffles and smoothies for lunch.  Yummie!

I wish I could get a new Kitchen Aid mixer, but it will have to wait. They are so much more expensive here. If it wasn't for the fact that you either needed a converter the size of a shoe box weighing a ton or replacing the motor of it to make it work in Europe, I would have brought it.

Next purchase on my list, is something I did not have in the US. A bike. We bought Chris a bike 2 weeks after getting here, that I've been riding all winter, but now I need one too, so we can go on bike rides together.

Swedish observation #14 (by my friend Logan)

Don't eat the Ikea cake. It's shit cake.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21676069

This is just one of many food scandals surfacing in the last couple of weeks. The biggest one lately is horse meet in processed food such as meatballs and ready made lasagna. The funniest one was the meat pie in Iceland that was found to contain no meat at all.

Mardi Gras -The Swedish Way

Fettisdagen, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras or whatever you may call it in your part of the world, have different ways to be celebrated. Here in Sweden it means only one thing. Eating of the traditional "Semla". This sweet wheat bun filled with almond paste and a hearty dose of whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar is heavenly! In the past (before moving abroad) I have baked my own for this occasion, but with everything else going on, I completely forgot that it was already today. As luck might have it, my work had gotten some for us. And I was lucky enough to get two.

Living in Sweden Observation #8

Coke tastes like it should! Real Sugar is so much better than High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Living in Sweden Observation #6

Fresh produce tastes more fresh!?! The red onion is really strong!!! Yummie :)

Living in Sweden Observation #2

Grocery stores provide fresh bananas to the kids while shopping with their parents. Never again will we struggle getting through the store with a starving baby.